


Broken Bonds

by Miracutrashcan



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: A lot of focus is going to be put on Adrien, Angst, Anxiety Attacks, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, For tumblr's ml secret santa, Gen, Give Adrien a hug, Hurt/Comfort, Identity Reveal, Panic Attacks, Semi-season 2 compliant, Why the hell have I not been kicked out of this fandom
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-12-28
Updated: 2017-11-05
Packaged: 2018-09-12 20:16:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,219
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9089104
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Miracutrashcan/pseuds/Miracutrashcan
Summary: Sometimes to protect the ones you love, you have to do the things that hurt them the most. Though, what one person thinks is the best can send another into a massive downward spiral. 
Written for MLSecretSanta 2k16
Edit: 7/5/2017: This fic will be continued and is no longer a one-shot.





	1. Dissa-pur-ance

**Author's Note:**

> Crosspost on Tumblr on [Miracutrashcan](http://miracutrashcan.tumblr.com/tagged/broken%20bonds/chrono).

“Trust your instincts, and make judgements on what your heart tells you. The heart will not betray you.” ― David Gemmell, Fall of Kings  
\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“You know you do not have to do this.”

“I know.”

“I’m sure you can think of something else. You can still go home.”

“No I can’t, not until this is over with. She needs to die.”

A soft sigh, then a quick glance at a trembling hand. “ Okay. I’ll support you regardless of what you choose.”

“Thank you.” With a flick of a wrist, the match in hand was lit. A single spark was all that was needed to set this entire building ablaze. There was still a chance to leave, to walk away and to return home. A single breath, then the match was dropped and an elaborate plan was set in motion, a plan that could no longer be stopped. One last glance around the building and a mental note on how fast the fire was burning, and the duo left. With the fire picking up intensity as each second ticked by they knew that by the time firefighters arrived on scene it would be far too late she would be dead and only ashes would remain. 

\-----------------------------------------------------

Her eyes slowly opened as the memory started to fade away. While the memory was only a week old, it still felt like she set the building ablaze mere hours ago. Her eyes scanned aimlessly over the usually quiet park. Quiet except for today; today a funeral procession was happening. The girl would have chuckled, because it was a big deal for someone without a body. She crouched on the edge of the building, a sigh escaping her mouth. There was a chilly breeze today and how high up she was did not make it any warmer. She silently pulled the scarf wrapped around her nose and mouth up ever so slightly. She was probably the one and only person in Paris who found this situation the least bit funny. 

The sound of the funeral progressing snapped her out of her aimless thoughts. If her mouth was visible from behind her scarf a frown would be on her face. She never expected this many people to show up, especially for her maybe it was because of the few high profile people she knew or associated with. Regardless, the only people she was expecting to show up were family and close friends. She could not be bothered to try and count the number of people here, as it was evident that it was more than just family and close friends; she wondered if everyone that even remotely knew her was invited. As she shook her head, a sigh escaped her lips. It was not worth worrying over now; she had bigger things to stress over. 

She knew that it was risky being up here, and being this close… yet she could not stay away. She needed to know what the fruit of her actions brought, even though her emotions regarding her prior actions were already locked away. A particularly strong gust of wind blew her hood off of her head, and a few dark strands of hair fell into her face. A sigh came from between her lips as she tucked those strands back behind her ears and pulled her hood back up. 

The building she was on had a clear view of the audience, and she could see the expressions of those sitting in the first few rows. Her eyes narrowed as she looked around, this time looking for anyone who stood out to her. She did not have to look past the first row of seats to find what she was looking for. The parents were sitting near the center aisle and the mother was crying into the father’s shoulder. Her nails dug into the concrete she was balancing on at the sight, biting her lip. A daughter was taken away from them without warning, without reason, and most importantly, by her hands. She told herself that she would not feel anything. She would not allow herself to feel anything for feelings might get her killed. She unknowingly took her right hand and gently stroked her right ear, her thumb running smoothly over the cool metal of her earrings. 

Next to the parents were the best friends and their families. There were three sitting there, two of them were crying in each other’s shoulders. It was hard to tell if it was the male or the female trying to comfort the other. Despite the expressions on their faces, the pose they were in brought the word ‘cute’ to her mind. Her gaze lingered upon the duo for a few more seconds before finally settling on the last one of the three.

He held no clear expression on his face, at least not one she could read from this distance. Her eyes focused in on him and studied every inch of him closely. He was the last person she expected to be there for several reasons. For one she knew that he did not know the deceased well. Secondly, she was aware of how his father acted, and having him at a funeral did not match the expectations she’d heard rumors about. She could continue on with many reasons on why he should not have been there. He was starting to fidget around, which to her was unexpected. His eyes started to wander around and eventually found them on her. His neutral gaze turned to shock and her own gazed mirrored his in response. For a split second she could have sworn that relief appeared on his face, but she just assumed it was a trick of the light, especially since the only time someone looked up to the rooftops was when Chat Noir and Ladybug were out on their nighttime patrols or during an Akuma attack. That fact is what made it so safe to remain up there for so long, and neither of those situations applied right now. 

Ladybug nor an Akuma were seen since the fire a week ago, and not many people were complaining… well at least about the latter, that is. 

She shook her head; she did not have time to dwell on that topic. Her main focus was the fact that someone saw her, saw her watching over the funeral. She was not sure if he would be able to recognize anything important due to the distance between them. She stood up fully and hopped off the edge of the building as she could not take any chances of someone finding her. It would put everything she had done at risk, a risk she was not willing to take. She turned her back to the funeral as she shut her eyes once more and thought of a plan of action. Instincts got her into this situation, and relying solely on them now would just get her killed. She slowly opened her eyes, as she walked over to where she was keeping a black backpack filled with food, water and money. Putting the backpack onto her shoulders she knew one thing for sure: she had to move out of the area now. She allowed herself one last look back to where the funeral was continuing and her gaze softened ever so slightly.

“I’m sorry.”

And with that, she turning her attention forward. She got a running start towards the edge of the building and jumped off at the last moment. Prior experience took over as she landed safely on the next roof and used the momentum to continue her escape into the cool afternoon. There were very few people who could keep up with her on the rooftops, which was something she was planning on using to her full advantage. 

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

An hour later, she forced herself to stop running, her breathing hard but not heavy. She had pulled her scarf down earlier so she could breath more easily during her run. She thought about just taking a short break here before returning to her hide out. It was Sunday, meaning that Chat Noir should not be out that night. This was important to know since she recognized the area as one of the locations on one of the patrol routes. The routes were not that hard to memorize with enough time and patience, considering that they only changed every few months. She shrugged the backpack she was carrying off her shoulder and sat down near the chimney. 

She looked to her bag and opened it up, and the first thing she grabbed was the water bottle. Pulling the bottle out, she unscrewed the lid and drank the entire whole thing in one sitting. She sighed and decided to lean against the chimney, allowing herself a moment to relax and get her thoughts in order. Today was a massive risk on her part; as so many things could have gone wrong. There were so many chances she took that all of her hard work could have been in vain.  
Was it a mistake? 

That was yet to be seen. 

When she opened her eyes up once again, she was not expecting neon green eyes to be staring right at her. She yelped in surprise and immediately got to her feet, and in her haste her hood fell down. Only this time she was a foot away from someone else and, more importantly, her scarf was hanging loosely around her neck. She needed a plan and she needed one ten second ago. Chat Noir was not supposed to be here tonight. It was not a patrol night for him nor Ladybug. There was no rational explanation as to why he was standing right in front of her! “C...Chat Noir?” she stuttered out, seeing no way of escaping this confrontation. 

“W..why?” was the only word the hero managed to get out, his face a mixture of hurt and confusion. She wanted to look away, to avoid the feelings she’d been burying this entire week. Except she could not, especially not when he was standing right in front of her. She spent the last week carefully constructing walls around herself, telling herself that it would be easier to deal with. If she distanced herself from her emotions dealing with the consequences of her actions would be easier. 

“I… I don’t know what your talking about.” She finally spoke after a few moments. She knew that the last time she saw Chat Noir, her hair was different right after she set fire to the building, she had cut it. Practicing voice acting was something she had no time for, not when she had so many other things to set up in preparation for this. She was very aware that Chat Noir was far from a fool, yet she hoped that he was too tired to realize exactly who she was. Realistically the chances of that happening were between zero and none.

“I know who you are, don’t play dumb with me.” His voice was firm, yet hurt was interwoven with each word. 

Listening to him talk was like repeatedly stabbing herself in the heart. She felt his hands lightly grab her shoulders. She made no move to pull away from him. All she could do was stare at his boots as she thought about how to explain to him why she was doing this. This was the exact reason she spent so long trying to put up walls around her heart; just so she would not have to feel the pain of her actions. 

“Why?”

She thought about continuing to play dumb with him. If she stuck with one story long enough, he was bound to believe her. She shut her eyes and thought about being stubborn and insisting that she was not the same person Chat Noir thought she was. The person that Chat Noir was thinking of died in the fire she made sure of that. She started to open her mouth before shutting it again telling him why she was doing this would risk everything she’d done in the last week. “I can’t tell you, Chat Noir.”

“What is so important that you had to fake your own death? Ever since I heard you might have been in that fire I spent every possible moment looking for you to prove them wrong!” he yelled at her, tears pricking at the corner of his mask. He brought her in for a tight hug. 

She was aware that faking her own death was going to hurt her family, her friends, and everyone else she knew, but Chat Noir was not one of the people she was expecting to hurt as a result of her actions. She also was not expecting him to bring her into a hug like that. It hurt having to lie to him. She wanted to tell him the truth. She wanted to tell him everything, but she refused. She feared that by telling him, he would inevitably end up in even bigger trouble, which was something she would not allow. So the only response she gave him was a shake of her head.

“Why?!” he cried out not in anger but in anguish - his eyes told it all. She knew how to read his colorful expressions well after all of the various situations she found herself in with him this was one that she rarely saw on his face. She only saw this face when his civilian life got too much for him and started to interfere with his duties. “You were watching your own funeral! I saw you there! Why would you do this to you friends and family?” She could feel something warm and wet hit her face, and she bent her neck upwards to see that he was crying.

It was taking every ounce of willpower not to break into tears as well. She’d been lying to herself this entire time this week had been hell, to put it nicely. All she wanted was to go back home to her parents’ warm and protective embrace, yet she couldn’t. “It’s complicated,” she finally forced herself to say, hoping that would be enough to satisfy his curiosity. She had a feeling that he would not buy her cheap excuse but it was still worth a shot.

He was silent for a few moments before he spoke softly to her. “Then start at the beginning. Life is complicated, secret identities are complicated. The only way we make sense of them is by breaking it down. So please, tell me from the beginning. I want to help you.” 

She met his eyes and she wanted to run - running would be easier than having to deal with this. But she did not try to run as she knew that he was faster than her. She could hear his desperate pleas to be let in. She would not let him in, she would not risk his safety like this. More importantly, if he started to act different knowing that Ladybug was alive and safe, Hawk Moth might notice. If Hawk Moth noticed and forced her to come out of hiding, who knows what the consequences might be for her family? “I want to tell you, Chat Noir, but I can't. Just trust me when I said this was the only option!”

“How is making your parents, your friends, everyone, think you are DEAD the only option?” He pulled out of the hug and looked down at her. The hurt that was once on his face was now replaced by confusion and desperation to understand her twisted sense of logic. 

She reached her limit. She could take no more and pulled away from him, turning her back on him. This was the exact reason why she hid away, so that she would not have to explain to anyone why she did what she did. Dragging anyone else in would just make a bigger mess of her current situation. “Because I had to, okay? You wouldn’t understand! No one can understand! Do you think I wanted to set fire to that building? To go into hiding and be considered dead to everyone? To make my parents hold a funeral for me? Do you think I wanted any of this?” She had had the bright idea that keeping her feelings bottled up would be the best choice. Unfortunately for Chat Noir, he was the closest thing to her when she boiled over. 

“Princess…” He trailed off, reaching his hand out to her before hesitating and bringing it back to his side. His voice cracked at the end. He wanted to understand, to do whatever he could in his power to help her, to make sure she was safe. “Please-”

“Your princess is dead, Chat. She died in that fire and she’s not coming back.” She cut him off as a few of her own tears slid down her face. She did not mean to snap at him like that, she really did not… it just came out like that and she could not take back what she said. She held her arms as she shut her eyes, tears continuing to streak down her face. “It would be best for us both if you forget about me, this meeting, everything,” she muttered, glancing back at him before wrapping her scarf around her nose again. She knew that she would have to get off the rooftops and onto the streets to get to the next set of buildings. 

“You say that like I can easily forget about you, Marinette! Why won’t you let me help you?” Chat Noir responded, taking a step towards her and putting a concerned hand on her shoulder. He wanted to help her, he desperately wanted to see her back with her family, he missed her in class. Everything just felt so wrong when she was gone. 

She brushed his hand off of her shoulder and turned around to face him. Tears were streaming down her face. She knew there was no point to try and hold her feelings back. “Because I don’t want your help, Chat Noir! Why can you not get that through your thick skull? Not everything revolves around you! Hell, you weren’t even supposed to find out I was alive for this reason!” She raised her voice not out of anger towards him, but rather with anger towards herself. She knew what would happen if he found out and getting him involved was the last thing that she ever wanted. 

“Well, I know now! Why can’t you accept my help now that I know? Maybe we can think of a way to get you out of your situation together,” he offered, hoping she would accept. He could tell that whatever situation Marinette was in, it was big and she needed all the help that she could get. He wanted to wipe those tears off of her face and comfort her. Based on how she reacted to his previous attempts he decided to keep to himself for now. 

“NO! Are you stupid or just not paying attention? I don’t want your help! Shouldn’t you be out on patrol or something like a good little sidekick?” It hurt her to talk to her partner like this. He did not deserve the harsh treatment she was giving him, but it was the only way that she could think of to get him off her back. She needed him to stop caring about her and if that meant acting like Chloe… so be it. “I wonder why Ladybug puts up with you sometimes.” Saying those words hurt her deeply; that was the last thing she truly felt about her partner. She knew that she would have to apologize later for this and pray to her lucky stars that he forgave her for how she was treating him.

“Who are you? You aren’t the princess I know.” His eyes narrowed at her, keeping the hurt hidden behind his mask. He thought that he knew her better, but hearing those words hurt him. “I thought you were better than this.”

“You mean the goodie two shoes act? It was just a lie to get people to like me. I could care less about how people really feel. Let’s be real here Ladybug only calls you her partner so people don’t get mad at you when you wreck half the city during a fight.” She forced herself to laugh at what she was saying, though each word she said was a blatant lie. Having to talk to him like this was tearing her apart inside, yet on the outside she smirked at him. “Ladynoir? More like Ladynot. She’s going to drop you like a bag of potatoes when Hawk Moth is gone.” She prayed that Chat Noir’s kwami could protect him from all of the negative emotions that she assumed were building up inside of him. What she was saying was low and she believed for a split second that she was actually mirroring something Chloe would say. By now the tears had stopped falling and her gaze made her look almost bored of the conversation. 

“So first you fake your death, and now you show your true colors after everyone thinks you’re dead, Marinette? Is that right?” He looked at her, his eyes narrowed as he tried to understand the sudden shift in the conversation. Something was not right here, but he was too hurt by her previous words to figure out what was wrong. “To think I actually cared about you.”

“I’m a poor helpless civilian you have to care. It’s in your job description. I’m tired of acting around you, so if you don’t like the “real me” I suggest you don’t go out looking for me anymore.” With that, she turned her back to him once more and walked over to her backpack. She zipped up the main compartment and put it on her back. She was tired of lying to Chat Noir’s face and it was taking all of her willpower not to turn around and hug him. She needed to get away from him soon before she could not stop herself and then her entire plan would come crumbling down. “So what are you going to do now, kitty? Or do you have to run home to Ladybug for her to make a decision for you?” That last line she said ripped her soul in two. He could not see her face and how scrunched up it was from all the horrible things she’d said.The only good thing that she could take away from this was that she was fairly sure that he was going to give up on her. 

“I’m going to do what you asked of me, forget I even know you.” His voice remained neutral. 

She did not dare look back at him. She knew that one last glance at him and her last little bit of self restraint would shatter.

“See you around, and maybe next time you should bring a leash so you don’t get lost,” she called out to him loudly, and with that, she walked towards the fire escape. She hesitated to made it look like she was readjusting her backpack before starting to climb down. “If this is what I need to do to protect you from Hawk Moth, so be it,” she muttered under her breath, accepting the fact that he probably would never forgive her for the words said tonight and she would not blame him. It was the only thing that she could come up with that would keep him away from her. Besides, Hawk Moth already knew the identity of Ladybug, and she was going to do everything in her power to make sure Chat Noir’s identity remained a secret. 

It only took a few moments for her hair to disappear from his vision. He was still processing all of the things said tonight, as most of the words hurtful in someway. Her last sentence took him off-guard. It was the exact opposite of what she was saying all night, and he could not help but wonder if she knew he had feline hearing. That last statement stood out among the rest as he thought about it longer, and the pieces started to fall into place. A look of horror slowly spread across his face as he felt more torn and conflicted than ever before.


	2. Claw-st

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pieces start to fall into place, friendships are questioned, and Chat Noir unknowingly finds himself in the eye of the storm.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It only took a few moments for her hair to disappear from his vision. He was still processing all of the things said tonight, as most of the words hurtful in some way. Her last sentence took him off-guard. It was the exact opposite of what she was saying all night, and he could not help but wonder if she knew he had feline hearing. That last statement stood out among the rest as he thought about it longer, and the pieces started to fall into place. A look of horror slowly spread across his face as he felt more torn and conflicted than ever before.

Chat Noir stood there, the words exchanged tonight rooting him in place as he visually lost track of Marinette. After what felt like an eternity to him, he could finally force his body to move again as he fell to his knees. He dug his claws into the roof shutting his eyes in frustration. The last line Marinette whispered before she left kept repeating itself in his mind. 

‘If this is what I need to do to protect you from Hawk Moth, so be it.’ 

He knew that he was stronger since the first day he received his Miraculous. On the other hand, he was still confused on why Marinette felt the need to protect him; she was a civilian. He could not wrap his mind around why Hawk Moth would be interested in Marinette. He was very aware of her natural quick wits and cunning. Even taking that into account, he could not see why Hawk Moth viewed that as a threat. “Why did she have to do this? She isn’t a part of this war!” He cried out in frustration, slowly opening his eyes again and noticed a few tears hitting his gloves. He pushed himself back into a sitting position on his knees. He knew deep down that Marinette was a good girl, a bit shy around him, but a good girl none the less, and he was honored to call her a friend. He sat there for a few more minutes trying to piece together the little information he had about this incident.

He knew that Marinette faked her death to protect him from Hawk Moth. He also knew that he was not supposed to find out that she was alive. He also knew that Marinette wanted him to stay away from her. Adding all those facts up he could only come to one conclusion.

Marinette somehow knew that Adrien Agreste was Chat Noir. From that Hawk Moth somehow found out that Marinette knew who he was and from that he was most likely threating her.

“How could she know? I was so careful!” He grabbed his hair in frustration as he tried to remember any time that she could have seen him transform. He knew that there were a few times that he either transformed or de-transformed in less than ideal spaces. However, he was also aware that he was alone in all those situations. He also took great care to keep how he acted as Adrien and Chat Noir as two different people to avoid raising suspicion. Being forced to continue with his photoshoots gave him a very reliable cover for his absences to further separate Chat Noir from Adrien Agreste. Even his appearance changed between his civilian self and his hero self, a fact that he was almost certain that he was the only one who knew.

“Could… could she be the one who gave me my Miraculous and she spent all this time pretending not to know?” It would make sense in a weird way. It seemed like whenever there was an Akuma attack she would take charge to get everyone to safety and give him opportunities to slip away. She also seemed to always be away from the area during an attack, as if giving him room to transform. If that was the case, then he was not the only person in danger right now. Marinette would know the identity of Ladybug and possibly have knowledge about their powers that neither of them knew about. Chat Noir thought he knew his classmate well, and if his theory held true then he really did not know a single thing about her. 

“Ladybug. I need to call Ladybug.” He fumbled for his baton his mind still distracted with all the information Marinette gave him tonight. He was still trying to sort through all the potential clues that she left for him. As he tried to make sense of the information he started to wonder if the way that she treated him was because of his Miraculous. Was she befriending him, so she could keep a closer eye on him? Was she judging him this entire time to determine if he was going to keep Plagg and his Miraculous? Was all of this just an act? To think that Marinette did everything that she did just to create an illusion to hide her real intent did not sit well with him. Something about this just seemed too out there even by Marinette’s standards.

Once he had his baton firmly in his hands he immediately dialed Ladybug, he needed to update her on the situation. “Bugaboo where are you? This is not the time to be taking a break!” He tried again out of a mix of frustration and desperation. He’d known that Ladybug was under a lot more stress and pressure in the weeks leading up to the fire. It just had to be pure chance that she took her much needed break the week that the fire happened. Regardless of her choice, he continued with patrols as normal knowing that she would join him as soon as she was ready to come back. Tonight was definitely not a night that he could handle things alone, he needed someone to bounce ideas and theories off of. After the fourth call that failed he gave up trying to call her, he knew that he needed a new plan and fast. The longer they allowed Marinette to run around unprotected, the higher the chance that Hawk Moth could find her. And he did not want to think what would happen next. 

Chat Noir was mentally cursing the fact that they never formed a backup system for communication. They always assumed that they would be able to get into contact with each other through their weapons and now it was biting them in the ass. He slowly forced himself into a standing position and glanced to the sky. “Maybe if I go off the patrol route, she might notice and then we can talk.” He glanced to his baton and thought about trying one last time. Shaking his head in disappointment he attached his staff back to his belt he took off running. He thought about running in the direction that Marinette was going, but ultimately decided against it. She was moving away from the areas that he usually found Ladybug hanging around at night. He started on the patrol route, and started his deviation a few minutes later. There was no true reason why they had decided on the set paths; it was just something that happened as time went on. With consistency came familiarity, and with familiarity he did not focus on the route. His body knew the distances between the buildings and allowed him to focus on other things. 

Chat Noir considered himself lucky that it was late at night. He did not want to raise attention while he looked for Ladybug and thankfully his suit blended in perfectly with the Parisian night sky allowing him to move undetected. This was a matter that needed to be settled quickly and, most importantly quietly. If people knew that someone died because he and Ladybug were not strong enough to protect them… he did not want to begin to imagine the chaos that information would bring. Thoughts of Hawk Moth having a large army at his disposal from the sheer panic and stress from the reveal shook him to the core. Shaking his head, he pushed the thoughts aside. He knew one thing for sure, he had to keep the peace as best as he could. Not just for his sake, but for Ladybug’s as well. She was stressed enough as is. She did not need Hawk Moth gaining an upper hand as well to add to her pile of responsibilities. 

Chat Noir was not sure how long he was running along the rooftops as he let his body just run on autopilot while his mind wandered. However, it was after he nearly missed a jump did he realize how tired he was and that he should be heading back home. He still had Chinese and fencing to attend tomorrow and he had no valid excuses on why he should ditch. He was painfully aware how quickly his father could snatch his last remaining freedom away from him which was the last thing he wanted. He came to a careful stop on the rooftop and leaned against the edge. Under normal situations, Ladybug would have already seen him and joined him by now. “She’s fine. She has to be fine. She’s Ladybug, she can do anything.” He spoke to no one in particular, as if he was saying the words to reassure himself above all else. He allowed his eyes wander around; he had to figure out where he was exactly if he wanted to get home tonight.

Eventually his gaze landed upon Marinette’s balcony and he felt his stomach twist in anxiety. He knew that she was in a bad enough situation where she thought faking her death was the best option. Not only that, he was still feeling conflicted on if she really considered him as a friend or just someone to watch over. He felt the desire to know the answers to his questions grow the longer that he stared at the empty balcony. “I’ll find you Marinette and I’ll bring you back home. I swear.” He knew lingering here any longer would do him no good as he tried to undo the knot in his stomach. He could not bear the thought of having to lie to Tom or Sabine’s face if they caught sight of him. He started walking away from Marinette’s home and stood on the opposite side of the rooftop and gave one last glance back towards the house. “I’m sorry princess.” With that he jumped off the roof and disappeared into the night.  
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________  
Little did Chat Noir know that during his attempt to find Ladybug, he did draw the attention of two people. They watched Chat Noir disappear into the night before looking at each other. The smaller one glanced up to the larger one, a frown on their face. “Should we do something? You know this is not going to end well.” 

The larger person glanced between where they saw Chat Noir standing and where their partner was and frowned. Watching Chat Noir act like that was painful to see but they knew that they could not act. This was not their battle to be fought as their time had passed. “I know it’s not going to end well. We just have to bide our time and be here if he seeks us out.” It was taking all their self-control not to go after the leather clad hero as they sighed and looked back to their partner. “The most we can do is be here for him if he finds us. We should probably get more Camembert tomorrow.”

That was not the response that the smaller figure wanted to hear as they glanced back to where Chat Noir disappeared to. “You are right, it is just hard to sit by and watch when I know that they are suffering.” The moment those words left the smaller figure’s lips the larger figure wrapped their arms around them and nodded in agreement.

“I know it is hard, but this is the most we can do for now. Let’s go home for now. We can’t do anything if we’re falling asleep when he finds us.” The smaller one looked back up to the larger one and nodded their head in agreement. Soon the duo disappeared into the night as well, leaving the rest of Paris blissfully unaware of the brewing trouble.  
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________  
The minute that Chat Noir landed in his bathroom he glanced around to make sure that no one was here. “Plagg, claws in.” He whispered not wanting to risk waking anyone else up. While he knew that the halls were empty, he also was aware of the echoes they could make. He already let his identity slip to one person, he was not going to risk anyone else. “Plagg can you sense if Ladybug is fine?” Adrien whispered as he quietly exited the bathroom, taking his shirt off in the process. He wanted to relax and fall asleep, but something about tonight was bugging him and it would not leave him alone. It wasn’t like Ladybug to not come out when he went off the patrol routes. It had happened in the past, when his civilian life was getting almost overwhelming and he deviated from the set path. She noticed within an hour of him leaving the path and had him sitting down on a rooftop, listening to his problems the best he could describe them without revealing too much information. 

Tonight?

Tonight, he was off the route for hours, and not a single mention of her anywhere. Not on his tracker, not on his phone, and not on the Ladyblog. He knew that sometimes civilian events make it hard to transform and sneak away for long periods of time. Yet, he knew from experience it was not too hard to sneak away and send a quick message letting her know that he was alright, just tied up with something. If it was not for her week-long absence prior to tonight, he would not be freaking out as much as he was right now. 

Plagg sighed and floated beside Adrien. He was not too worried about Ladybug being missing. This was not the first time he had seen Tikki’s chosen take a break from their responsibilities for their own sake. It was a common practice in times of peace, and with Hawk Moth being quiet the last week, he believed Adrien should be grateful for this time. “I can’t check the bug myself because I’m not her Kwami, but I can tell you that Tikki is f--.” Plagg was about to brush off Adrien’s worry as nothing more than a teenage crush before he realized something. 

He could not feel Tikki’s presence. 

Plagg shut his eyes and concentrated solely on Tikki’s essence, it was not like her to go completely off the radar like this. He knew that Tikki’s chosen was a good bug. So the chances that this was a result of a chosen gone bad was very slim. Even in the rare cases that Tikki got an abusive holder, she would leave one channel open for him to check up on her. Not this time, every single channel that she’d kept open in the past was shut. He could not even tell if she was still active or back within her Miraculous again. Plagg opened his eyes and saw that Adrien was waiting with worry plastered all over his face. He wanted to tell Adrien that Tikki was fine and everything is alright, but he could not bring himself to lie to his chosen. “Adrien… I can’t sense Tikki.”

“What does that mean? Does that mean that they are hurt somewhere waiting for us to find them? Are they dead? I can’t lose her, too!” He was in a full-blown panic now, barely able to keep his voice down as he glanced around. If she was hurt somewhere, waiting for him to find her he could not just stand here and do nothing. “I can’t lose anyone else, I don’t want to be alone.” His breathing picked up as he thought about being trapped alone in his room again, only allowed to go outside for work and school. “I can’t, I can’t, I can’t, Ican’t.” 

Plagg flew to Adrien’s face and put his paws on his cheeks and looked his chosen directly in the eyes. “Adrien. Listen to my voice. Breath and count backwards from ten to zero with me. Alright?” 

“We can’t stay here! We can’t! We can’t! We—” Adrien wanted to pull away from Plagg and transform again to double his search efforts. He could care less about his health, as long as Ladybug was safe and sound. That was all that mattered to him right now, to make sure that his partner was alright.

“ADRIEN! Breath! Now count backwards with me. Then if you still want to we can go look for her again. Deal?” Plagg kept his tone level and his gaze locked onto Adrien’s. Adrien hesitated for a moment and nodded his head in agreement.

“Ten.” 

“Nine.” Adrien’s breathing finally started to slow down.

“Eight.” 

“Seven.”

“Six.” By now Adrien’s breathing was back to normal, and his thoughts were calming down.

“Five.”

“Four.” 

“Three.” The overwhelming panic was starting to fade as Adrien’s body relaxed.

“Two.”

“One.” A small smile graced the corners of Adrien’s lips as he focused solely on Plagg. 

“Zero.”

“Now kit, do you still want to go out and look for her? Or do you want to rest, and we can talk about this in the morning? It’s been a long day, and you spent hours running around as Chat Noir looking for her. You need to get some rest.” Plagg finally let go of Adrien’s face, his voice and expression were soft and filled with concern for his chosen. Traditionally he knew that his kits were fiercely protective of their bugs, and he knew that Adrien was no different. He also had seen what happens when his kits start to think with their hearts and not their heads. Plagg would do everything in his power to keep that from happening to Adrien. He had too bright of a future to be brought down by something like this.

“I want to go look for her right now, but I also know that I should rest…” Adrien ran his right hand through his hair as he glanced out the window and saw how quiet Paris was. He was not sure which one was the right call. The idea of Ladybug being somewhere out there cold, hurt, or in danger while he was sleeping just made him sick to his stomach. He felt something tug at his finger, and he saw that it was Plagg pulling him towards his bed.

“She is a strong bug, kit. Have faith in her.”

“Alright I’ll go to bed, but we are talking about this in the morning.” Adrien sighed as he made his way towards his bed. The minute that his head hit the pillows he was out cold. 

Plagg floated beside Adrien, worry on the small god’s face as he surveyed his chosen. Adrien was already stressed over the disappearance of Ladybug, he was not going to add on the disappearance of Tikki to his list of worries. He settled down in the crook of Adrien’s neck and started to fall asleep. “Stay strong Adrien. This is the calm before the storm.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First off, real life really sucks which is why this took almost a year to update. But I really want to say thank you to everyone that commented on this. All of the nice words nearly brought me to tears when I first read them. 
> 
> With season 2 now officially out, I think I will try and find time to update this story more often. In regards to spoilers, I will not be going into the actual episodes themselves. However, I will be pulling personalities from Season 2. I will make notes of any major spoilers for season two in the chapter notes, but as of right now I do not plan to include any of them.


End file.
